Winning 3rd Major Rests Nelson's Place Among Best

August 10, 1987|By Ivan Maisel of The Sentinel Staff

PALM BEACH GARDENS — Only four men have won three major championships in this decade. The first three names your Aunt Minnie could guess: Tom Watson (5), Jack Nicklaus (3) and Seve Ballesteros (3). The fourth member of this group quit grousing about his lack of recognition long ago.

''After the '83 Open,'' PGA champion Larry Nelson said, ''I decided not to be concerned about what everybody thought. They can say whatever they want.''

There's nothing that can be said now that isn't complimentary. The maxim that a player doesn't carve a spot for himself in history until he has won two majors didn't seem to hold true for Nelson.

A balding Georgia resident who turns 40 next month, Nelson has been ignored by the media and the public. This despite winning the 1981 PGA at Atlanta Athletic Club by four shots over Fuzzy Zoeller and despite preventing a repeat U.S. Open victory by Watson in 1983 at Oakmont.

Nelson came back after a rainout Sunday to hole a 62-foot birdie putt Monday morning at the 16th hole and edge Watson by one stroke. He played the last 36 holes in an Open record 10-under 132.

The player who didn't pick up a club until he was 21 now stands among the best in the game. Yet he remains virtually unnoticed, a devout family man unsullied by Zoellerish shtick or a Normanesque love of the spotlight. ''Larry is a hell of a competitor,'' said the vanquished Lanny Wadkins. ''When his game is on, he drives in the fairway and hits his irons at the flag.''

When his game is on. It hasn't been for several years. ''It has been all downhill since 1983,'' Nelson said. ''When I won the U.S. Open I was 36. It was time to start thinking about needing to do other things. Not too many of us go past 40 with any success. I felt like I needed to establish myself in business.''

Nelson had won only once since that Open victory, taking the Walt Disney World Classic in 1984. He bought a golf course near Atlanta, started up a building-supply business and began designing golf courses, mainly in the Orient.

Nelson came back to his golf game this year, but it didn't appear his game would come back to him. He entered this championship 101st on the money list ($64,025).

''You never know when your last tournament victory will be,'' Nelson said, ''and it had gone through my mind that the Disney would be the last one. I don't know for sure if this is my last one. But it is my most important one.

''I get in the Masters for five more years, and I get a Tour exemption for 10 years. That'll get me to 50. I can go do what I want and show up again when I'm 50.''